


In a Word

by Reioka



Series: Pride Pockets [8]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Demisexual Character, Demisexuality, F/M, pride fic, pride month
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:42:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24914050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reioka/pseuds/Reioka
Summary: Carol had only wanted to talk about Tony's crushes.
Relationships: Carol Danvers/James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Series: Pride Pockets [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1386916
Comments: 12
Kudos: 143





	In a Word

**Author's Note:**

> This is more of an outsider point of view, so if you're looking for more of a first-person coming-to-terms on demisexuality, please refer back to the third in this series, "Moronsexual."
> 
> Also I looked it up and the term "demisexual" came into use around 2006, so Carol definitely would not have been around.

In a Word

It had been Carol who had noticed first. She hadn’t thought it was all that weird, at the time—Tony was fifteen, with wonky hormones that left him embarrassed more often than not, considering he was hanging out with nineteen- and twenty-year-olds. It had made sense that he would be embarrassed, that he would feel hesitant to share.

So she waited until it was just the three of them in the apartment Tony’s parents had rented for him, Jim cooking in the tiny kitchenette while she and Tony curled up on the couch to watch reruns of _The Golden Girls_. Tony had cuddled up against her side, wearing an MIT sweatshirt that was too big for him and shorts that were almost too short. She dragged her fingers through his hair so he’d relax a little, then carefully asked, in her gentlest tone, “So, got any crushes you wanna tell us about?”

Tony stiffened, and then somehow he did a very impressive move where he grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch while he rolled off of it so it wrapped him in a tight little burrito, head hidden inside it. The burrito began to shake and whimper.

“Ah fuck!” Carol exclaimed, horrified, and reached out to grab him. “Tony! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to upset you!”

Jim dropped the bread he’d been buttering to leap over the counter and circle the couch to pull the burrito that was Tony into his arms. “Hey, man, what’s wrong?”

“Me,” the burrito sobbed. “ _I’m_ what’s wrong!”

Jim paused, then looked up at Carol, stone-faced. “Carol. Please don’t be alarmed by what you’re about to see.”

“What?!” Carol sputtered.

Jim ignored her, ripping the blankets open so he could see Tony and then hunkering down on top of him, forcing Tony to accept his hug. Carol had to admit she was glad for the warning, because it was honestly a little horrifying, because Tony was trying very hard to squirm away.

But then, almost immediately, Tony stopped struggling, curling his arms around Jim’s shoulders and sobbing into his chest. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

“What are you apologizing for?” Jim asked, somehow managing to stay calm.

“I have the biggest fucking crush on you Rhodey,” Tony sobbed. “And I know you’re straight and you’re dating Carol and I’m sorry!”

“I mean… it just shows you have good taste,” Carol mused. “Jim is a _delight_.”

Jim whipped around to glare at her. “Carol!”

Luckily, Tony interrupted before he could say anything else, sniffling nervously as he asked, “You’re not mad?”

Carol slid from the couch onto the floor next to him, reaching out to carefully pull him into her arms. “No, of course I’m not mad. You can’t help if you have feelings for someone! I’m sorry I pushed.” Then she raised her eyebrows at Jim. “Well? Aren’t you going to apologize?”

“What for?!” Jim asked, offended.

“For being so fucking excellent that you gave Tony a crisis,” Carol scoffed.

“Carol!” Jim gasped, clutching at his chest as if he were wearing pearls.

Luckily, it worked, and Tony reluctantly began to giggle, all wet and thick, but relaxing in her arms.

Tony didn’t have many crushes after that. They worried about him off and on, but he never seemed upset by it, with Jim’s assurance that it didn’t make him want to stop being his friend, especially when Tony had never intended to act upon it because he knew Jim was straight. Sure, sometimes they still got the odd phone call of ‘I made a new friend and I want to date them what’s wrong with me,’ but it was simple enough to just remind him that they loved him regardless and if his new friends were offended or angry, maybe they weren’t very good friends, and decided Tony was probably asexual.

So Carol was bowled over in more ways than one when Tony slammed into her after reversing the Snap, holding her tight and shouting, “Carol! Carol! They have a name for me!”

“Uh,” Carol said, hugging him back. “Yeah, I heard. Iron Man. And then you snapped.” She leaned back, frowning, as she looked him over for injuries. His arm was probably a total loss. The side of his face was also pretty fucked up. But he was alive.

“Carol are you listening to me?” Tony asked impatiently.

“No,” she answered, honest.

Tony gave her his best bitch face. It honestly looked even bitchier with his injuries. Luckily, it was quickly replaced with a beaming smile. “They have a name for me!”

“Okay,” Carol said slowly.

“I’m demisexual and I’m not broken and I married my best friend!” Tony exclaimed, looking about a moment away from vibrating right out of his armor.

“What,” Carol said, and then his words caught up to her as the woman in blue armor (Rescue?) came up beside them, looking amused. “Are you his best friend?”

“Pretty sure it’s still Jim, but I’m a close second,” she replied, amused, even as she surreptitiously tried to check out Tony’s injuries as well.

Carol looked back at Tony, then over his shoulder to where Jim was shaking his head, trying not to laugh. She looked back at Tony’s wife. “Mrs. Stark. Please don’t be alarmed by what you’re about to see.”

“What,” she said, and then screamed when Carol tackled Tony to the ground.

Carol held him tightly. “I’m so glad you have a name for how you feel,” she told him seriously.

“Me too,” Tony replied shyly. Then he brightened. “She’s not Mrs. Stark! I’m Mr. Potts!”

“Fuck I thought you’d grow out of punching me in the gut,” Carol said, pained, and allowed Jim to help her up. “Did you know about this, Jim?”

“Unlike you, I was on earth when the term demisexuality was coined,” Jim replied dryly, but the sarcasm was tempered with a soft smile in Tony and… Mrs. Potts’? direction. “He called me at one in the morning to tell me about it and then we both cried because Tony learned he wasn’t alone in how he felt.”

Carol nodded. “That’s nice. But I meant, did you know that he stopped having a giant crush on you? How are you coping?”

“Tony still has a giant crush on me,” Jim deadpanned.

“It’s true, and if I didn’t know Tony and Jim as well as I do, I might actually be a little insecure about it,” Mrs. Potts said, grinning at Tony to show she wasn’t being serious. Luckily Tony didn’t look worried, instead continuing to beam at all of them in turns.

Something in Carol ached at the fact that she’d missed the cause for his carefree smiles. She wasn’t entirely sure what ‘demisexual’ meant, but she could guess. She’d have to look into it more later, after everything calmed down. “Does anyone have a computer that connects to the internet that I can use?” she asked.

Tony looked angrier and more hurt than he had when he’d been facing down Thanos. “ _Carol_ ,” he gasped, appalled.

“Technology has come a little further on earth since you’ve been gone, Carol,” Jim said as Mrs. Potts tried to gently dissuade Tony from blowing the fuck up about it. “I’ll send you some links.”

“Some _what_ ,” Carol said.

“OH MY GOD PEPPER PLEASE I NEED TO SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THAT—”

“Tony please calm down you are injured and I’d like to get that seen to—”

“It’s good to have you back, Carol,” Jim said in amusement, clapping her on the shoulder, then walked over to grab Tony by the good shoulder and shake him so he’d shut up.

“Good to be back,” Carol murmured as Tony finally cowed when Jim gave up on shaking him to pull him into a tight hug instead.


End file.
